Military profile
India Military Strength
India ranks #4 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 1,450,000 active personnel. It spent $92.1 billion on its military in 2025 (2.3% of GDP).
India armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 1,450,000#2 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 1,155,000#4 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 2,527,000#2 of 145
- Army personnel
- 2,197,117#2 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 310,575#3 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 142,252#4 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 2,210#4 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 577#4 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 130#4 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 807#4 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 36#18 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 4,614#6 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 100#35 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 3,311#5 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 1,500#7 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 2#2 of 113
- Destroyers
- 11#6 of 113
- Frigates
- 12#8 of 113
- Corvettes
- 19#5 of 113
- Submarines
- 18#8 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 138#6 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $92.1 billion#5 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 2.3%#47 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $8.44 trillion#3 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
India military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of India grew by 100% between 2010 and 2025, from $46.1 billion to $92.1 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 2.3% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of India
Branches and forces
Indian Armed Forces (IAF): Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard Ministry of Home Affairs: Central Police Organization, Central Armed Police Forces (includes Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guards, Sashastra Seema Bal) (2025)
Personnel
information varies; approximately 1.5 million active Indian Armed Forces, including about 1.25 million in the Army (2025)
Service age and conscription
ages vary by branch of service and positions, but generally 17-27 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; no conscription (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military's inventory consists of Russian- and Soviet-origin equipment along with a smaller mix of Western and domestically produced arms; Russia continues to be the leading provider of arms to India, although in recent years India has increased acquisitions from other suppliers, including France, Israel, the UK, and the US; India's defense industry is capable of producing a range of air, land, missile, and naval weapons systems for both domestic use and export; it also produces weapons systems under license (2025)
Deployments abroad
1,100 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 200 Golan Heights (UNDOF); 900 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 2,400 South Sudan (UNMISS); 600 Sudan (UNISFA) (2025)
Good to know
the Indian military's primary mission is external/territorial defense while secondary missions include regional power projection, UN peacekeeping deployments, humanitarian operations, and support to internal security forces; it participates in multinational exercises and is one of the world's largest contributors to UN peacekeeping operations the military's chief external focuses are China and Pakistan; the short 1962 Sino-India War left in place one of the World’s longest disputed international borders--known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC)--resulting in occasional standoffs between Indian and Chinese security forces, including lethal clashes in 1975 and 2020; naval competition and influence in the Indian Ocean is also an area of interest India has fought four wars and several skirmishes with Pakistan; three of the wars have been over the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir, the status of which has been unsettled since the UK's 1947 withdrawal and the partition and independence of India and Pakistan; a fragile cease-fire in Kashmir was reached in 2003, revised in 2018, and reaffirmed in 2021, although the militarized Line of Control which serves as the border remains contested, and India has accused Pakistan of backing armed separatists and terrorist organizations in Jammu and Kashmir where Indian military and security forces have conducted counterinsurgency operations since the 1980s; in the Spring of 2025, India held Pakistan responsible for a terrorist attack in India-controlled Kashmir and retaliated, sparking a brief cross-border conflict involving aircraft, artillery, drone, and missile strikes the Kashmir dispute also includes the Siachen Glacier, located in the Karakoram Mountain Range, which was seized by India in 1984 with Pakistan attempting to retake the area several times between 1985 and 1995; despite the 2003 cease-fire, both sides continue to maintain a permanent military presence there with outposts at altitudes above 20,000 feet (over 6,000 meters) where most casualties are due to extreme weather and the hazards of operating in the high mountain terrain of the world’s highest conflict, including avalanches, exposure, and altitude sickness (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 2% · 2023: 2.3% · 2022: 2.1% · 2021: 2.2% · 2020: 2.5%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Bangladesh
Pakistan
China
Nepal
Myanmar
Bhutan